Deaths in February 2006

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The following is a list of notable deaths in February 2006.

28

• James Ronald "Bunkie" Blackburn, 69, NASCAR driver [1]
• Owen Chamberlain, 85, particle physicist, co-discoverer of the antiproton, winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics. Complications from Parkinson's Disease.[2]
• Travis Claridge, 27, American football player with the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, pneumonia. [3]
• Hugh McCartney, 86, former Labour Party MP. [4]
• Push Singh, 33, Artificial Intelligence researcher who did groundbreaking work in the Open Mind Common Sense Project. [5] Suicide
• J. Tyson Tildon, 74, American neuroscientist did pioneering work in the biochemistry of mental retardation.
• Arno Wallaard, 26, Dutch cyclist.

27

• Alice Baker, 107, last surviving British woman to serve in the First World War, member of the Royal Flying Corps [6] [7]
• Ferenc Bene, 61, Hungarian football (soccer) player, fall.
• Otis Chandler, 78, former publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Lewy body disease. [8][9][10]
• Fahd Faraj al-Juwair, 36, Saudi Arabian alleged head of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, killed in foiled bombing attempt. [11]
• Milton Katims, 96, long-time conductor and leader of the Seattle Symphony
• Tsakani Mhinga, 27, South African R&B singer, drug overdose. [12]
• William Musto, 88, former mayor of Union City, New Jersey, convicted of racketeering [13]
• Pierre Nerini, 90, French violinist.
• Hans-Georg Possanner, 66, Austrian diplomat.
• John Prestwich, 67, Longest surviving iron lung patient [14]
• Robert Lee Scott, Jr., 97, retired United States Air Force brigadier general and fighter ace, author (God is My Co-Pilot). [15]
• Linda Smith, 48, British comedian, ovarian cancer. [16]

26

• Dr. E. Russell Alexander, 77, American epidemiologist [17]
• Georgina Battiscombe, 100, author & biographer [18]
• Bill Cardoso, 68, American writer and editor, coined the term "gonzo" [19]
• Walter Kerber, 79, German Jesuit and Professor of Ethics [20]
• Alexis N. Obolensky, 86, White Russian exile, US. State Department negotiator. [21]
• Sir Hans Singer, 95, German-born British economist, helped create the World Food Program and the United Nations Development Program. [22]

25

• Jeff Barnes, 23, professional wrestling announcer, died after falling off a cliff while hiking.
• Dr. Robin Coombs, 84, British immunologist, developed Coombs Antibody test[23]
• Kenneth Deane, 45, Canadian police officer convicted in Ipperwash shooting, automobile accident. [24]
• Thomas Koppel, 61, Danish musician and composer from the band Savage Rose. [25]
• Darren McGavin, 83, American actor (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, A Christmas Story). [26] [27][28]
• Henry M. Morris, 87, American young earth creationist leader, complications of stroke. [29] [30]
• Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, 69, Poet Laureate of Ethiopia. [31][32]
• Charlie Wayman, 83, English footballer, during the 1940s and 1950s, following a long illness [33]

24

• Octavia Butler, 58, [Black] science fiction author and MacArthur Foundation Fellow, head injury. [34]
• Michael S. Joyce, 63, executive vice president of the John M. Olin Foundation, president of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation [35]
• Don Knotts, 81, American actor (The Andy Griffith Show, Three's Company), complications from lung cancer. [36] [37]
• Roland Kohloff, 71, timpanist, New York Philharmonic [38]
• Charles Leonard, Jr., 92, American Olympic pentathlon silver medalist, heart attack. [39]
• Danny Perasa, 67, NPR storyteller [40]
• Andrew Sherratt, 59, British archaeologist at the University of Sheffield [41]
• Denis Twitchett, 80, Gordon Wu Professor of Chinese Studies, Princeton University 1980-94, creator of the 15 volume The Cambridge History of China [42] [43]
• Dennis Weaver, 81, American actor (Gunsmoke, McCloud), complications from cancer. [44][45][46]

23

• Frederick Busch, 64, American author, heart attack. [47]
• Francis Forster, 94, neurologist, Dean of Georgetown University medical school, treated US President Dwight Eisenhower [48]
• Luna Leopold, 90, American ecologist and author [49]
• Dr. Leo Lutwak, 77, American biochemist and nutritionist for the US Food and Drug Administration, raised concerns about fen-phen [50]
• Machteld Mellink, 88, Netherlands-born American archaeologist of sites in Anatolia [51]
• Dr. Robert W. Miller, 84, American epidemiologist with the US National Cancer Institute, studied Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings [52]
• Diane Shalet, 71, American actress and author [53]
• Gilbert Shoko, 43, Zimbabwean politician in the Movement for Democratic Change [54]
• Reverend Earl Stallings, 89, Baptist pastor praised by Martin Luther King in the Letter from Birmingham Jail [55]
• Telmo Zarraonaindía, 85, Spanish football (soccer) player, heart attack. [56][57]

22

• Atwar Bahjat, 30, Iraqi journalist for al-Arabiya, abducted and killed in Iraq. [58][59]
• Anthony Burger, 44, American gospel music pianist, collapsed during performance. [60]
• Said Mohamed Djohar, 87, former President of Comoros. [61][62]
• Hilde Domin, 96, German poet and writer. [63]
• Donelson Hoopes, 73, American curator [64]
• Francis Easterly Little, 69, opera tenor and educator [65]
• Edward Nalbandian, 78, owner of Zachary All Clothing in Los Angeles, Alzheimer's disease. [66]
• Larry Neill, 87, American composer and big band singer, (Paul Whiteman, Shep Fields) pneumonia
• Flossie Page, 112, American supercentenarian from Kansas. [67]
• Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, 90, former Second Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, heart failure. [68]
• Romana, 50, Pakistani film, stage and television actress, lung and heart ailments. [69]
• Bill Tung, 72, Hong Kong actor, horse racing commentator. [70]
• Richard Wawro, 52, autistic savant internationally recognized artist, cancer. [71]

21

• Gennadiy Aygi, 71, Russian author and poet who wrote in the Chuvash language. [72]
• Abraham Cardozo, 91, Dutch-born cantor of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. [73]
• Theodore Draper, 93, American historian and political commentator. [74]
• Ed Franklin, 84, American-born political cartoonist (The Globe and Mail) [75]
• Bruce Hart, 68, American lyricist for TV's Sesame Street, lung cancer. [76]
• Don Herbert, 44, American firefighter who awoke from a 9-year coma in 2005, pneumonia. [77]
• Mirko Marjanovic, 68, prime minister of Serbia from 1994 to 2000. [78]
• Angelica Rozeanu, 84, Romanian-born table tennis world champion. [79]
• Stefan Terlezki, 78, British Conservative Member of Parliament 1983-1987.[80]

20

• Carroll Anderson, 86, American, Surf Ballroom manager, arranged fateful Buddy Holly flight. [81]
• Hernan Echavarria, 95, Colombian industrialist, part of the Civil Front that forced Gustavo Rojas from office [82]
• Seymour Furman, 74, American cardiologist, improved pacemaker procedures
• Lou Gish, 35, British stage, film and television actress, cancer. [83]
• Curt Gowdy, 86, American sports broadcaster, leukemia. [84][85][86]
• Paul Marcinkus, 84, controversial American Catholic archbishop, headed Vatican Bank. [87]
• Eli Segal, 63, American businessman, aide to U.S. President Bill Clinton, mesothelioma. [88]
• Lucjan Wolanowski, 86, Polish journalist, writer and traveller. [89]

19

• James Hinton, 69, American documentary photographer, prostate cancer. [90]
• Ken Keuffel, 82, American college football coach, prostate cancer. [91]
• Erna Lazarus, 102, American screenwriter.

[92]

• Kenneth McCabe, 59, NYPD detective who investigated the Mafia [93]
• Henry Michael, 92, American anthropologist and geographer. [94]
• Thomas Malcolm Taylor, 63, American money manager, snowmobile accident. [95]

18

• Richard Bright, 68, American movie and television actor, pedestrian accident. [96]
• Eathon Hall, 40, American museum curator [97]
• Bill Hartley, 75, Australian political activist and trade unionist. [98]
• Laurel Hester, 49, American gay rights activist, lung cancer. [99]
• Zita James, 102, leader of the 1920s London socialites known as Bright Young Things. [100]
• Charles Leonard, 92, US Army Major General and Olympic sharpshooter [101]
• Alexander Ramati, 86, producer, writer and director
• Tom Sellers, 83, American newspaper reporter and 1955 Pulitzer Prize winner, heart attack. [102]
• James Shively, 63, American former POW in Vietnam and prosecutor. [103]

17

• Ray Barretto, 76, American-born Latin jazz percussionist and bandleader, heart failure. [104][105]
• Sybille Bedford, 94, German-born British novelist and memoirist. [106]
• Paul Carr, 72, American TV and movie actor, lung cancer. [107]
• Roy Chapman, 79, American race horse owner, complications from emphysema. [108]
• Bill Cowsill, 58, American singer, lead of The Cowsills, emphysema and other ailments. [109][110]
• Giovanni Gandini, 77, founder of the Italian comics magazine Linus. [111] [112]
• Harold Hunter, 31, American pro skateboarder, in movie Kids, suspected drug overdose. [113]
• Bob Lewis, 81, American race horse owner, congestive heart failure. [114]
• Lloyd David Lindsey, 88, Anglo-Brazilian chemist.
• Raymond Mauer, 89, American advertising executive and scriptwriter (Duck and Cover). [115]
• Jorge Pinto Mendonça, 51, Brazilian football (soccer) player, heart attack. [116]
• Yevgeny Samoilov, 94, Russian actor [117]
• Bernhard Werner, 89, German athlete.

16

• Paul Avrich, 74, American professor and historian of anarchism, Alzheimer's disease. [118]
• Benno Besson, 83, Swiss stage director. [119]
• Michael Durham, aka Johnny Grunge, 39, American pro wrestler, sleep apnea complications. [120]
• Sid Feller, 89, American music arranger, conductor and record producer. [121]
• Robert E. Fischer, 88, New York State Supreme Court justice, Attica Prison riots investigator. [122]
• Susie Gibson, 115, American supercentenarian, heart failure. [123]
• Ernie Stautner, 80, Bavarian-born American Pro Football Hall of Famer, Alzheimer's disease. [124]

15

• Xavier Barquet, 46, American film producer and actor. [125]
• Philip Coombs, 90, American diplomat [126]
• Barbara Guest, 85, American poet of the New York School [127]
• Zodwa Khoza, 30, South African brand manager of Orlando Pirates Football Club, Aids related complications [128]
• Anna Marly, 88, Russian-born songwriter, France's "Troubadour of the Resistance." [129]
• Andrei Petrov, 75, Russian composer. [130]
• Robert E. Rich, Sr., 92, American businessman, creator of first nondairy whipped topping. [131]
• Sun Yun-suan, 93, former Premier of Republic of China, myocardial infarction. [132]
• Josip Vrhovec, 79, former foreign minister of Yugoslavia.

14

• Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, 106, Lubavitch storyteller. [133]
• Darry Cowl, 80, French actor and pianist, lung cancer. [134]
• Shoshana Damari, 83, "Queen of Israeli song," pneumonia. [135]
• Joel Dorius, 87, American professor of literature, bone marrow cancer. [136]
• Michael Fitzgerald, 55, American film historian and author. [137]
• Lynden David Hall, 31, British soul singer, Hodgkin's lymphoma. [138]
• Hermann Lein, 86, resistance fighter against National Socialism.
• Sir Peter Masefield, 91, British aviation executive, pilot and author. [139]
• Benjamin Matthews, 72, bass-baritone opera singer, co-founder of Opera Ebony [140]
• Don Paarlberg, 94, American agricultural economics adviser to three U.S. Presidents. [141]
• Arnold Rogow, 81, author and psychoanalyst [142]
• Robert Taylor Sr., 89, American businessman, miniature golf pioneer. [143]
• Putte Wickman, 81, Swedish jazz orchestra leader and clarinetist, cancer. [144]

13

• John Brooke-Little, 78, English author and officer of arms. [145]
• Brummet Echohawk, 83, Pawnee artist. [146]
• Ilan Halimi, French Jew murdered by a gang from Banlieue. Possibly anti-Semitic murder.
• Andreas Katsulas, 59, American actor, lung cancer. [147]
• Alan M. Levin, 79, American documentary filmmaker. [148]
• Edna Lewis, 89, American author of cookbooks on Southern U.S. cuisine. [149]
• Lewis "Bud" McFadin, 77, American pro football player and coach. [150]
• Altynbek Sarsenbayev, 43, former Kazakhstan cabinet minister, assassinated. [151][152]
• Sir Peter Strawson, 86, British philosopher. [153]
• Joseph Ujlaki, 76, Hungarian-born French football player. [154]
• Wang Xuan, 70, Chinese academic and IT expert. [155]
• Bettie Wilson, 115, American supercentenarian, complications from congestive heart failure. [156]

12

• Lenny Dee, 83, American organist/composer (Plantation Boogie) and club owner. [157][158]
• Geordie Hormel, 77, American musician and studio owner, heir to the Hormel Foods fortune. [159]
• Juan Sánchez-Navarro y Peón, 92, Mexican entrepreneur and co-founder of National Action Party.
• Ken Hart, 88, American composer, playwright, US veteran, lobbyist, journalist, WW II[160]

11

• Peter Benchley, 65, American author best known for Jaws, pulmonary fibrosis. [161] [162]
• Peggy Cripps Appiah, 84, British-Ghanaian children's author. [163]
• Ken Fletcher, 65, Australian tennis player, cancer. [164]
• Patrick Laver, 74, British diplomat, treaty negotiator, auto accident
• Rickie Layne, 81, American ventriloquist, heart failure. [165][166]
• Jackie "Mr. TV" Pallo, 79, British professional wrestler, cancer. [167]
• Robert W. Peterson, 80, American sports historian, lung cancer. [168]
• Harry Schein, 81, Austrian-born founder of Swedish Film Institute, author and columnist. [169]
• Jockey Shabalala, 62, South African singer with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. [170]
• Thomas A. Spragens, 88, figure in American higher education, former President of Centre College. [171][172]
• Harry Vines, 67, American wheelchair basketball coach

10

• John Belluso, 36, American playwright, Engleman-Camurdrie syndrome. [173]
• Jill Fraser, 59, British theatre director, cancer. [174] [175]
• Dick Harmon, 58, American golfer and golf instructor. [176]
• Knut-Olaf Haustein, 71, German physician.
• Virve Hinnov, 90, Estonian art historian and museologist.
• John Prentice, 79, Scottish football player and manager. [177]
• Norman Shumway, 83, American surgeon performed first U.S. heart transplant, lung cancer. [178]
• Peter Smith, 65, British trade union leader, oesophageal cancer
• Juan Soriano, 85, Mexican painter and sculptor. [179]
• André Strappe, 77, French football player. [180]
• James Yancey, aka J Dilla, 32, American hip hop record producer and MC, lupus nephritis. [181]

9

• Phil Brown, 89, American actor, best known for playing "Uncle Owen" Lars in Star Wars. [182]
• Ibolya Csák, 91, Hungarian athlete, 1936 Olympic gold medalist in women's high jump. [183]
• Dai Ailian, 89, Chinese dancer and choreographer, founder of the Beijing Dance Academy. [184]
• Monsignor John T. Fagan, 79, American social services director, Parkinson's disease. [185]
• Robert B. Hotz, 91, American aviation expert, complications of Parkinson's disease. [186]
• Edward G. Jefferson, 84, London-born American businessman, former CEO of DuPont. [187]
• Sir Freddie Laker, 83, British entrepreneur, founder of Laker Airways. [188]
• Don Lewis, aka Lewis Gordon, 70, Canadian stage actor, heart attack. [189]
• Nadira, 75, Indian Bollywood actress. [190]

8

• Larry Black, 54, American track and field medalist at 1972 Summer Olympics, aneurysm. [191]
• Elton Dean, 60, English jazz saxophonist, heart and liver related problems. [192]
• Michael Gilbert, 93, British mystery author and lawyer. [193]
• Ron Greenwood, 84, British football manager, England national team, West Ham United. [194]
• Michael "The Bounty" Hunter, 45, American professional boxer, gunshot wound. [195]
• Akira Ifukube, 91, Japanese film composer, best known for Godzilla film series. [196]
• Mart Kenney, 95, "Canada's Big Band King," bandleader/musician, complications from a fall.[197]
• Fritz Leitermeyer, 80, Austrian composer and first violinist at Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra 1946 to 1985 [198]
• Gigi Parrish later known as Katherine Weld, 92, American actress [199]
• Kuljeet Randhawa, 30, Indian television actress, suicide. [200]

7

• Glenn L. Benner, II, 43, American convicted murderer, executed in Ohio. [201]
• George Millay, 76, American businessman and founder of SeaWorld, lung cancer. [202]
• Max Rosenn, 96, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1970-2006. [203]
• Mitchell Rupe, 51, American convicted murderer ruled too heavy to be hanged, liver disease. [204]
• Alan Shalleck, 76, American TV writer, director (Curious George animated films), murdered. [205]

6

• John Brightman, Baron Brightman, 94, UK lawyer and former Lord of Appeal.
• Mario Condello, 53, Australian lawyer and gangland criminal.
• Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 80, American comedian and actor, cancer. [206][207]
• Maulana M. Abdul Mannan, 71, politician who collaborated with Pakistani forces during the liberation war of Bangladesh. [208]
• Barry Martin, 44, African-American dancer and choreographer. [209]
• Stella Ross-Craig, 99, one of the most prodigious of British flora illustrators. [210]
• Esther Sandoval, 78, Puerto Rican actress. [211]
• Karin Struck, 58, German writer, cancer.
• Kouji Totani, 57, Japanese voice actor, heart failure.

5

• Roland S. Boreham Jr., 81, American businessman, former CEO of Baldor Electric Co. [212]
• Norma Candal, 75, Puerto Rican comedienne, actress and drama teacher, head injury. [213]
• Franklin Cover, 77, American TV and movie actor, pneumonia. [214]
• Ton van Dalen, 60, Dutch soccer agent, heart attack. [215]
• Martin Feinstein, 84, first executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and general manager of the Washington National Opera. [216]
• Herbert Fischer, 91, German diplomat.
• Reuven Frank, 85, American TV journalism pioneer and former NBC News president, complications from pneumonia. [217]
• Ulrich Klöti, 63, Swiss political scientist.
• Peter Philp, 85, British dramatist and antiques expert.
• Jack Taylor, 60, one of the heaviest men in Britain, heart attack. [218]
• Carl Vogel, 84, German art collector.

4

• George T. Davis, 98, American criminal defense lawyer [219]
• Friedrich Engel, 97, German, former Nazi SS officer. [220]
• Betty Friedan, 85, American feminist and writer, congestive heart failure. [221][222]
• William Augustus Jones Jr., 71, American Civil Rights pioneer. [223]
• Barbara W. Leyden, 56, American palynologist and paleoecologist.
• Joe McGuff, 79, American sportswriter and newspaper editor, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease). [224]
• Elena Carter Richardson, 55, Mexico-born principal dancer and teacher, cancer.
• Myron Waldman, 97, American animator for Betty Boop and Superman cartoons. [225]

3

• Ustad Qawwal Bahauddin, 71 or 72, Indian-Pakistani Qawwali singer.
• Walerian Borowczyk, 82, Polish-born surrealist filmmaker [226] [227]
• Jean Byron, 80, American actress, infection following hip replacement surgery. [228]
• Kurt Emmerich, 76, German radio reporter.
• Frank Goodman, 89, Broadway press agent. [229]
• Lou Jones, 74, American Olympic runner. [230]
• Sonny King, 83, American comedian-singer, Jimmy Durante's sidekick, cancer. [231]
• Duma Kumalo, 48, one of the Sharpeville Six, human rights activist, film-maker and founding member of the Khulumani Support Group for victims of apartheid-related violence. [232] [233]
• Al Lewis, 82, American actor (Grandpa Munster on The Munsters), Green Party political candidate, restauranteur, and radio host. [234]
• Romano Mussolini, 78, Italian jazz musician and painter, son of Benito Mussolini. [235]
• Denne Petitclerc, 76, journalist, screenwriter, and friend of Ernest Hemingway [236]
• Johnny Vaught, 96, NCAA championship-winning University of Mississippi football coach. [237]

2

• Jill Chaifetz, 41, American lawyer and executive director of the nonprofit legal group Advocates for Children of New York, ovarian cancer. [238]
• Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, 77, former prime minister of Bangladesh. [239]
• Chris Doty, 39, Canadian documentarian and playwright, suicide. [240]
• Guglielmo Letteri, 80, Italian comic book artist. [241]
• Pat Rupp, 63, goaltender for the 1964 and 1968 USA Olympic ice hockey teams, cancer. [242]
• Nicholas Swarbrick, 107, last remaining English merchant sailor of World War I.
• Sir Reginald Swartz, 94, Australian politician, Minister for Civil Aviation from 1966-1969. [243]
• Chris Walton, 72, English cricketer. [244], [245]
• Stephen Worobetz, 91, Canadian politician, former lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan. [246]

1

• Roy Alon, 63, British film stuntman, heart attack. [247]
• Dick Bass, 68, American pro football player and radio analyst. [248]
• Dick Brooks, 63, American NASCAR race car driver and radio broadcaster, heart attack. [249]
• Ernest Dudley, 97, British novelist, journalist, screenwriter, actor, radio broadcaster. [250]
• Carlson Gracie, Sr., 72, Brazilian martial artist, complications from kidney stones. [251]
• Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr., 86, American politician, governor of Arizona 1965-1967. [252]
• Charles Henry, 78, former chief of the New York City housing police. [253]
• Jean-Philippe Maitre, 56, former President of the Swiss National Council, brain tumor. [254]
• Charles John Tottenham, 8th Marquess of Ely, 92, British-born former headmaster of Canada's Trinity College School, member of British House of Lords. [255]